Even among other noted wrestlers who committed to full-time Greco-Roman while still in high school, Gunnar Hamre (67 kg) is seen as somewhat of a pioneer. He was not the first to switch over to the classical style prior to college (and, thankfully, he won’t be the last). But the difference between Hamre and those who came before him is this: as he acknowledges below, the majority of Hamre’s competitive exploits in Greco-Roman have occurred overseas, not in the United States. In other words, this is an American athlete who, as odd as it might sound to some, actually might hold more familiarity with how foreigners operate than he does with his own countrymen.
Wisconsin native Hamre, 20, began focusing solely on Greco during his sophomore year of high school under the guidance of (you guessed it) Combat WC founder Lucas Steldt. It was an immediate deep-dive. Not only had Hamre waved goodbye to folkstyle, he was also in short order embarking on trips to Europe for camps and tournaments. The whole thing was new, at first, and thus a learning curve was established. Hamre was forewarned that these treks over the Atlantic were intended to be fact-finding missions, and that competitive results were mainly observed as datasets from which adjustments to technique could be derived. The thinking was, If you win or place at an overseas tournament, great; but none of that matters as much as what you learn, and what you can use to improve.
Such an approach meshed well with Hamre’s already-humble demeanor. He needn’t expect to jump right in and run roughshod over a bunch of Europeans. That was not going to happen, anyway, for the experience of his international counterparts far outweighed his own. With expectations tempered, Hamre was able to both exercise patience and concentrate on progress. At first, he struggled to find his footing. He would sometimes place, or come close to it, in tournaments abroad; but there were more losses than wins under his belt. That was fine. Again, despite being a teenager, Hamre was not unaware of the technical deficit he and others from the US had to reconcile when tangling with high-speed Scandinavians. Plus, the training camps which often followed his excursions provided a more in-depth exploration into the type of education he needed — and would not receive anywhere else.
Eventually, after roundabout three years, Hamre started to turn the corner. Last winter delivered a pair of performances that spoke to his resilience as much as his ability. And it happened in back-to-back weekends.
First came Finland at the end of February. Hamre (and several of his American teammates) walked away with medals from the International MYHI Tournament (in Ilmajoki). Aside from a loss to top Finnish age-grouper Tuuka Peltokangas, Hamre was lights-out in earning bronze. Then a week later came an even more difficult test in Hungary. At an event that was structured for Hungarian national team selection, Hamre was the only athlete from the US to make an impact. He had advanced to the 67 kg bracket final (with one of his wins coming against tough Serbian Senior Dejan Berkec) and closed out his showing with silver. It was a big step up that delivered to him real-time proof that his long-term plan was starting to work.
But it also speaks to one of the more important items pertaining to Hamre. Whenever his name is mentioned, the topic centers more around his development, not his achievements. Hamre has placed 4th at Fargo twice (which is to say, he was not won the spectacle) and though he has been a contender at age-group World Trials, he is yet to make a World Team. None of this detracts from his profile, mainly because none of it actually matters. At least not yet.
For all of the issues facing United States Greco-Roman, one positive mark for the program is that leadership has increasingly assigned a (much) higher value to the very pathway for which Hamre has opted. Get the athletes engaged in Greco during their high school years, encourage them to focus only on Greco, school them with overseas training and “Greco cultural adaptation“, and, of course, remain patient. An authentic Greco-Roman wrestler like Hamre is almost not supposed to dazzle in domestic competition, because American domestic competition (especially on the age group circuit) is not indicative of how the sport is contested elsewhere around the globe. Both the officiating and mechanics associated with youth Greco-Roman events on US soil are often a parody of the discipline when compared to how it is rendered in other nations. It is for this reason, in particular, why American coaches currently care much more about how a developing athlete such as Hamre has performed overseas than they do regarding Fargo credentials. One of these things is not like the other. If you’re going to evaluate young Greco athletes, it is much wiser to compare and contrast them against international foes whilst paying little mind to their domestic results.
At the moment, Hamre is less than one month away from finishing his first semester as a student at Northern Michigan University. He had finished high school in ’23 but chose to take a “gap year” last season before registering for classes in Marquette. NMU, of course, presented the most natural fit for him considering that the university is synonymous with post-high school Greco-Roman development. And, as one might suspect, Hamre knows the landscape well. He had visited NMU numerous times previously for various training camps and always desired to attend the college; plus he watched as Alston Nutter, Benji Peak, and Payton Jacobson — all of whom hail from the same general region in Wisconsin and like himself went Greco full-time while in high school — entered NMU’s program. Therefore, not much about the situation has felt unusual. Hamre, whose best years are yet to come, is equally at home whether in some European airport or in his Northern Michigan dorm. His is a bright future, in part because he forged quite a unique past.
Gunnar Hamre — 67 kg, NMU/NTS
5PM: You began training and competing internationally at a younger age than is the norm, and you did it a lot. How long did it take for you to become accustomed to how things are overseas?
Gunnar Hamre: It was pretty quick. The first couple of trips I went on, it was just kind of cool to see all that. But it was probably my third, fourth, or maybe fifth trip when I became accustomed to how things ran over there. I had gotten used to it and knew what to expect. I had a better understanding than before. Every time I travel overseas, I get a little bit better at what’s going on, what I need to do, and how it works over there.
5PM: How did Lucas Steldt set your expectations for what you were going to encounter in say, Sweden or somewhere like that?
GH: He implied that it was going to be tougher than what we normally see in the States, how we were going to be getting completely different looks and different refs. Scoring was going to be way different. He also warned us about the bias from referees over there. A lot of guys kind of don’t like the US, so they will waver towards the foreign guys or the guys from their own country a little bit more than us. Which is to be expected. He also let us figure it out on our own, if I’m being honest. We all had some travel experience before that and the older guys had told us all about it. The older guys from the Combat program had told us all about what to expect, more or less.
5PM: It has seemed to me like you have wrestled way more overseas than you have here. Is that accurate?
GH: I would definitely say that’s accurate. There are only a few tournaments per year in the US and I travel multiple times a year overseas, and to multiple tournaments sometimes. I would definitely say that I have more experience overseas than in the States.
5PM: I figured. So if that’s the case, how do you compare yourself between competing here and overseas? Do you put all competitions in the same category? Or do you separate them according to location given the differences?
GH: I kind of grade them by the competition: who I’m wrestling against, who is in the bracket, and who places above me. I base it off of that, if I know the guys and know how good they are. Senior-level tournaments I’ve really only wrestled in the States and I would almost grade those above a lot of overseas tournaments that I’ve gone to. But for the majority of Junior tournaments, the US ones I would say are easier than anything overseas. But there are always going to be exceptions to that depending on who I wrestle and their experience, as well.
5PM: Last year when you went overseas, it seemed like you had settled into more of a rhythm than you had previously as far as placings go.
GH: Yeah, definitely. I had gotten into the groove of traveling and being ready to compete. Whereas before, I feel like I would just go over there and be shell-shocked or a little jet-lagged because I wasn’t fully-prepared. I started feeling a lot better about traveling and competing overseas. Just having that feeling of being better, in a sense. Being better mentally helps you so much on the mat. If you don’t feel confident, you’re not going to wrestle confidently.
5PM: When you had begun going overseas with Lucas, which was when I started seeing your name all the time, I just automatically figured that you would eventually end up at Northern because Combat is a pipeline to Northern. But was there ever a doubt that you would wind up at NMU? Did you consider other options, especially since you taken the gap year?
Gunnar Hamre: No, I feel like I always knew that I was going to go to Northern once I understood “the plan”, per se. It always ended with me going from Lucas to Northern, and then from there either staying there or going overseas. That’s Lucas’ big thing. He develops us at his place, sends us to Northern to get more experience, and then in the end he wants us to train overseas for the majority of the year. But since I’ve been with Lucas and have understood the plan he wanted, I was fully in on it.
5PM: Was there a specific reason you took the gap year?
GH: Just to train at Combat for another year.
5PM: Did the fact that it was an Olympic Year factor into that at all?
GH: I’m not too sure. Lucas just wanted me to stay back and I listened. I wasn’t too sure of what I wanted to do for school, anyways, so it gave me time to figure that out before going back to school for another four years.
5PM: What were you doing for work last year?
GH: I worked at Kwik Trip just so that I could pay rent. Myself and a bunch of guys from Combat all rented an apartment together. Then we eventually got two apartments because we had more guys come in. It was kind of just to help pay the bills and help fund travel fees and everything. With that gap year, I was more open to travel. I didn’t have to worry about school. It was pretty relaxed. Maybe that’s a reason why I felt better, because I had less worries back home. I’m not exactly sure of that, but it could have been a factor.
5PM: Because you had been to NMU for camps and other stuff prior to this year, did you adjust pretty quickly to the practices, the schedule, going to class, and things like that?
Gunnar Hamre: Getting back into class was a little bit of a struggle for me, but other than that it was really easy. It was no different than Combat because I was living at the same place where I trained. It was basically the same thing. It was run pretty similarly. There were two-a-days at Combat, and we have two-a-days at Northern.
5PM: So you had familiarity with Andy (Bisek) before arriving on campus. Now that you have gotten to know Andy as your main coach in the room, is his coaching style what you expected? I would imagine that it is easy to grow comfortable with him pretty quickly.
GH: Yeah. It’s a bit different than Lucas, but it’s basically what I expected.
5PM: (sarcastically) Whoa, different from Lucas, wow… (laughs)
GH: Yeah, just a bit more subtle (laughs). But it’s nice to have that kind of laid-back coaching, too. I’ve had my years with pretty… I don’t know how to say it…
5PM: Intense..
GH: Yeah, pretty intense training and coaching. I’ve had quite a few years like that, even before I was with Lucas. But getting up to Northern and having to think about everything, I wasn’t super used to it — but it was pretty easy to get into the rhythm of things there.
5PM: You’re rare in that you came up there with a robust knowledge base. You also have in and around your weight at NMU a lot of very good athletes. How has that translated in the practice room thus far?
GH: I feel like technique-wise that I’m one of the top guys. I don’t mean that to brag or anything. It is just that technique-wise, I’m pretty good up there. I even help out some of the guys who have been there for a while just in certain positions that I know pretty well. But I think against the top guys in the room that my intensity needs to improve. How to hand-fight, how to move people… Whenever I go with David (Stepanyan), he just throws me around like I’m nothing. I feel like technique-wise that we’re pretty close, but he is just such a better wrestler. I feel like instead of learning the fundamentals up there — because I’ve learned that already through Lucas — increasing my intensity would help me against some of the better guys in the room.
5PM: One of the things that Northern has going for them right now, even with Benji Peak gone, is really good team chemistry and a lot of unity. I think part of that might be because there are several of you who came in with definitive backgrounds prior to enrolling. Is NMU as unified of an environment as it appears to be?
Gunnar Hamre: I’d say so. Some of the freshman class, my class, I feel that we are still working on gaining the understanding to better the team in general. But there is definitely a good unity. We all try to treat each other like family. We help each other out when we need to, whether that is on the mat or off the mat. I help my buddies out whenever they ask if it’s classes or it has to do with wrestling. A lot of the guys don’t have cars up there and I’ll take them and run them around to wherever they need to go. So, we operate kind of like a big family.
5PM: You have had four or five Senior tournaments so far. Wrestling American Seniors in American tournaments with American officials coming from having mostly wrestled overseas age-group, how has that adjustment been for you?
GH: I feel like it’s going in the right direction. There are definitely matches that I’m not winning, and there are matches when I’m not doing what I should be doing. It is just about understanding what I need to improve on. I think the big difference between Senior guys and guys like me — I’m going to be a first-year U23 — is the intensity in how they wrestle and how they train. I need to get more intense and then maybe I can be up there with some of the better guys.
5PM: We just had the New York tournament in the beginning of this month, and there is no other event planned in this country until the April Senior World Team Trials. Is there a plan for you to fill in that time with a trip somewhere or other competitive opportunity?
GH: We, Northern, are going to Sweden in January, and then any other international tournament I can find. I know that when I went to Hungary last year that they invited me back. If it fits into my schedule, I will definitely travel, but it is harder fitting all of the traveling in with school. I am still figuring out how to balance that properly so that I make sure I am still getting done what I need to in class. But yeah, I am interested in trying to find any international tournaments or camps I can go to. Anything like that.
5PM: Based on the type of Greco education you had received before coming to NMU, your progress thus far early on at Northern, and now learning to compete against Seniors, how do you take what you already have and keep adding onto it as the level of competition increases?
Gunnar Hamre: It is not really any different from where I was at before. I take what I need to work on from the competitions. Like New York, for example. A problem that I had was hand-fighting. I wasn’t moving guys, I wasn’t getting into positions that I wanted, and I wasn’t using those positions properly to go and score. So, that is one thing I’ve been working on since then. And it’s no different from where I was at a few years ago. I didn’t know as much, but I was working on the few things I failed at in competition, and from what I saw in the room, as well. It’s not drastically different. It is going to be, I feel, more focus-based on smaller details than the bigger picture.
Training-wise up at Northern, I have a lot more guys I can work with, so I have a lot more different feels. I can test out what I am doing against a bunch of different guys who wrestle completely differently than guys who have gone full-time Greco. This is the first time some of them are truly wrestling full-time Greco, and then there are guys who are kind of in the middle. So instead of focusing on the big picture of something, such as ‘Oh, I need to work on par terre defense’, it is going to be ‘I need to work on making sure that I don’t hip-down when they do this, and I need to make sure that I don’t overreact when they go to crash that’. It is just those little minor details, more or less. I feel like this is how a lot of guys on the Senior level approach it. They already have these amazing backgrounds in how they wrestle and how they mentally-prepare, but there are just these little details that they are failing at. Then they focus on those details and start to succeed a lot more because it is just one small, minor change that changes everything.
2024 CISM Military World Championships
November 20-22 — Yerevan, ARM
TEAM USA DAY 2 RESULTS
55 kg: Billy Sullivan (Army/WCAP) — 10th
LOSS Shamshiri Kiyanoush (IRI)
72 kg: Alex Sancho (Army/WCAP) — 8th
WON Jose Ortiz Carrasquilla (COL)
LOSS Shant Khachatryan (ARM)
82 kg: Kamal Bey (Army/WCAP) — BRONZE
LOSS Burhan Akbudak (TUR)
WON Rahul Rahul (IND)
WON Shahin Bodaghi (IRI)
TEAM USA DAY 1 RESULTS
60 kg: Dalton Roberts (Army/WCAP) — 9th
LOSS Aidos Sultangali (KAZ)
63 kg: Ildar Hafizov (Army/WCAP) — SILVER
WON Rayan Hawsawi (KSA)
WON Hrachya Poghosyan (ARM) 5-5 (criteria)
WON Oscar Ramirez Lazzo (COL)
LOSS Kerim Kamal (TUR) 4-0
67 kg: Xavier Johnson (Army/WCAP) — 7th
WON Faisal Aldossory (KSA)
LOSS Maksim Skuratov (RUS) 4-2
77 kg: Justus Scott (Army/WCAP) — 10th
LOSS Yunus Basar (TUR)
